Today is a BIG day for Grindr – it’s our sixth birthday! It has been an amazing ride full of new features, designs and additions to the Grindr family.

First and foremost, we have to thank our amazing users all around the world – it's because of them that we’ve remained the category leader ever since we pioneered location-based meet-up apps. From the beginning, we focused on a simple solution to a big problem, and Grindr hasn’t deviated from that path and neither have millions of dedicated Grindr guys. And even though our look has evolved over the years, the app is still the fastest, easiest way to meet guys nearby.

We’ve had the opportunity to partner with great organizations like amfAR and ORAM for initiatives through Grindr for Equality to advance gay rights internationally. Grindr has broken into mainstream culture and is regularly on TV shows from “The Simpsons” to “Broad City” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” among others. Most recently, Madonna turned to Grindr as a launch platform for her latest album.

Since our launch in 2009, we’ve experienced explosive growth and today we have more than 1.6 million active daily users exchanging 70+ million chat messages and 5+ million pictures on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android. While the U.S. is still our number one country in terms of users, we have a huge global reach with guys logging into Grindr in 192 countries around the world with both Grindr and Grindr Xtra.

We have an accomplished and growing LA-based team that is continuously working to make the app easier and more fun for our users. Our team works with cutting-edge technology and are always thinking about how to tackle challenges to keep Grindr at the forefront of location-based apps. We are incredibly grateful to our team for their amazing contributions that make Grindr all that it is today.

We’ve recently updated Grindr’s profile and chat capabilities and in the future we’re working to make it even faster and easier for guys to meet. If you think you have what it takes and are interested to being part of a globally recognized, rapidly expanding pioneer app, Grindr is always looking for talented people to join the team and we pay top of the market for engineering talent. Come help make the next six years even more amazing.

Midterm elections are right around the corner on November 4 – and we here at Grindr were curious to see how users felt about the current state of politics. We surveyed more than 2,400 of our Grindr guys asking them about Obama, Hillary and who they thought was the sexiest President in U.S. history (we couldn’t resist). So, what did our users have to say? Let’s take a dive.

It’s no secret that Barack Obama has done more for the LGBT community than any other President in U.S. history and 66% of Grindr users have voted for him. However, 54% said they would not vote for him again if he was able to run for a hypothetical third term. Yikes, looks like Obama is losing his approval rating among Grindr guys.

But you know whose approval rating is through the roof? Hillary Clinton. If Hillary runs for President in 2016 (now that’s something we’d like to see), 53% of Grindr users said they would vote for her. In fact, a majority - 58% - would vote for Hillary Clinton if she was to hypothetically run against Barack Obama for President. And 23% said they wouldn’t vote for either (those were probably the Republicans. Yes, there are Republicans on Grindr).

Enough about the politicians, let’s see what Grindr users think of how is America doing.
65% of respondents feel that America is better off now than in 2008, and half said the weak economy is the biggest issue facing the U.S. today. The economy beat out other concerns such as healthcare, minority rights or an Ebola outbreak.

When asked who was the hottest U.S. President, Grindr users overwhelmingly (64%) chose John F. Kennedy as the president of their dreams. Barack Obama followed in second place with a notably lower 15%. We can’t blame them, JFK was a hottie, but we’ve all looked at that shirtless pic of Barack on the beach … and we were impressed.

So in a nutshell, our election poll tells us that Obama’s scorecard is waning, America is still concerned about the economy and Grindr users are backing Hillary in a major way.

In response to recent security allegations surrounding location data, Grindr is taking proactive measures to keep users safe in territories with a history of violence against the gay community. Any user who connects to Grindr is these countries will have their distance hidden automatically by default, which include Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Liberia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. There are many more countries already being protected by this location change, and we will continue to add more to this list.

This change means that any user within these countries will not show distance on their profile (e.g. 1 mile away). Your location will not be able to be determined via trilateration or any other method, keeping your position private and secure. This change will not have any other effects on the Grindr experience as a whole: guys nearby will still populate in the correct order, with the first guy in the cascade being the closest to you.

Users that are not located in countries with anti-gay legislation will be able to see distance in profiles, as we believe geo-location technology is the best way to help guys meet up simply and efficiently. However, should you wish to hide your location data, simply open the side menu, tap ‘Settings’, then ‘Privacy’ and turn ‘Show Distance’ off.

There is nothing that matters to us more than the safety and security of our user and the Grindr community. We will continue to find ways to keep our users private, especially in countries with anti-gay legislation.

Stay tuned for continued enhancements and new features in our upcoming app updates.

There have been recent reports that Grindr has an alleged security flaw and we wanted to clarify the matter with you all. There is nothing that matters more to us than our users and protecting the Grindr community is a core priority. As part of the Grindr service, users rely on sharing location information with other users as a core function of the application. We are always focused on doing what we’ve set out to do from the beginning: help guys meet other guys. Grindr’s geolocation technology is the best way for users to meet up simply and efficiently. As such, we do not view this as a security flaw.

For Grindr users concerned about showing their proximity, we make it very easy for them to remove this option and we encourage them to disable ‘show distance’ in their privacy settings. If a user wishes to turn off his distance setting, all he needs to do is toggle the show distance option in Settings. The app will still work, however other users won’t be able to see exactly how far they are.

We are continuously updating our platform to increase security across our networks and we do our best to keep our Grindr community secure. Stay tuned for continued enhancements and new features in our upcoming app updates.

MobileBeat, an annual conference hosted by VentureBeat held it’s sixth conference this year. This influential, who’s who in mobile, conference focuses on emerging mobile markets, trends and products.

This year, the conference uncovered new case studies, insights, and strategies designed to help app founders and mobile providers leverage mobile to increase profitability for their companies.The primary question during the Conference was "How do I grow my users, and how do I engage with them better once I have them?"

Grindr's Matthew Norris spoke regarding the app's use of location data to re-engage with users by helping them connect better to the community, and ensure that the content delivered as a result of location based campaigns are relevant, rich and rewarding. This technology, coupled with friendly user-interface in Grindr's app, is one of the reasons why users keep on using and relying on Grindr in their daily activities with their smartphones.

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